Train to Nowhere
by RekiKaz
Summary: With the aid of the Baron and his friends, Tatsu learns that there is a little bit of creativity in everything including himself.
1. The English Assignment

Tatsu looked outside the window from his desk during English class and saw a cloudless sky with the sun blazing down on the school garden. The English room was hot, muggy and Tatsu wanted badly to open the window to let the nice breeze he could see making the grass sway. He looked at the clock which told him that class would be over in five minutes. His teacher was wrapping up his lecture about literary devices when he reminded the class that they had two more weeks left before they had to hand in their final assignment.

The assignment was to create a short story incorporating realistic and unrealistic concepts with development of the protagonist. Tatsu was now in the panic stage. He hadn't even started it and it was assigned at mid-term. He tried to complete it but he didn't have the imagination. He concluded that there was no source of creativity inside of him and now that it was the second last week of school there was no time to be sitting at home doing school work.

Tatsu is a 16 year old male that plays on the highschool soccer team and on the Tokyo's civic soccer team. He prefers hanging with his friends instead of doing school work. Tatsu is average height with a slim built, has dark blue hair, hazel eyes but where's green contact lenses.

Suddenly the bell rang and Tatsu along with his class rushed out the door eager to get home or hang with some friends. "Hey Tat! Ready for the big game today?" Tatsu looked behind him and saw his pal, Kenji. Kenji was the new transfer student who was finishing his first of two years in Japan. He was from France and was the typical hottie. Tatsu was envious of Kenji because all the cute girls flocked to him like he was a magnet. "No, Kyoto is going to dominate us." Tatsu replied.

"What 'appened to votre confidence," asked Kenji.

"What did you say."

"Sorry, I guess my accent is too overpowering."

"Whatever. Hey listen, I gotta go research a bit at the library for that English assignment before the game and I need some hel..." Tatsu was interrupted he saw Kenji flirting with a girl named Chikya.

"Oh, did you say something?" asked Kenji.

"Nothing," Tatsu replied and he headed towards the local library.

On the way to the library Tatsu wondered if he was ever going to be able to finish this horrible assignment. As he looked around he saw people shopping, eating on the patios of cafés, little flower gardens here and there and sighed. Everything to him lately seemed so boring and dull. The sad thing was that Tatsu had a small burden that he was born with but big enough to sadden him. He longed to tell somebody about his ailment but he was just to sad.

Finally, Tatsu arrived at the library. The library looked like a huge cathedral with gargoyles of dragons carefully carved decorating the outside. It was quite odd looking and out of place because it was located beside an café and an antiques shop. Tatsu hadn't been to the library for years and was breathless when he saw it. He took a deep breath and entered the cathedral of books.


	2. The Book

Inside the library Tatsu was awed! The place was bigger than it looked on the outside. There were hundreds of tapestries showing all types of things (Dragons, Woman with Sewing Needles, Knights, Musical Instruments, etc.). The bookshelves along the walls went from the floor to the ceiling which was three storeys high.

Tatsu walked down a huge marble staircase with statues at the bottom and top of the railings. The staircase went from the entrance of the library to the main foyer where a round circular librarians counter/desk was located. There were approximately 12 librarians at the counters and Tatsu was sure that there were more of them patrolling the sections making sure everybody was quiet. "Where can I find books on imagination/creativity" he asked to a librarian.

"Section A, bookshelf 4B, Dewey Decimal 000.00 - 139.54," she replied.

"Whatever!" Tatsu decided that he will look around for anything interesting.

After looking through Sections K- Z11 Tatsu become very annoyed that nothing looked interesting. Taking a break from his search for nothing as it seemed he sat down on a sofa and started reflecting. Here he was at the local library and he couldn't find a single book that looked interesting that might give him some inspiration. A group of teenage girls walked passed Tatsu talking about clothes, what colours were in, and other girl things. Tatsu became depressed because they reminded him of his burden. Not wanting to sit there sorry for himself he got up and continued his search for a book.

After fifteen minutes or so Tatsu found himself in a Section P which was considered the taboo section. This section contained books not for the faint of heart and discussed things that were not considered proper among society. Curious, he started looked at one of the book shelves.

All of a sudden Tatsu tripped over something. He quickly got up and saw a fat cat walking deeper into Section P. Intrigued by the cat because pets were not allowed inside the library, Tatsu followed it. The cat stopped at a huge book ladder and started to climb it with great difficulty. Tatsu climbed up after it.

At the top shelf the cat just froze and then jumped into the air and disappeared. Tatsu nearly fell off the ladder in amazement. Then, he saw it. A book. It was covered in a layer of dust. Tatsu grabbed it and made his way down the ladder. He then found another sofa and sat down. After a few sneezy minutes Tatsu could read the title. Train to Nowhere by S. P. Norwell. He had found a book. He quickly had a librarian stamp it and he rain it out the door but not before he heard the librarian say to her colleague, "How did he, of all people find 'that' book."

Tatsu looked at his watch and realised that he was late for soccer practice. _Shit_ he thought and started running to the field hoping that Coach wouldn't make him run laps for the rest of the practice.


	3. Soccer Practice

OOC: I'm very sorry my grammar is bad! English was never my good subject, even though I received the Grade 8 award for it. Anyways continuing.

IC:

The soccer field was not very far from the library. It was approximately a 10 minute walk.

Tatsu arrived at the field half an hour late. He quickly changed into his soccer shirt and prayed that Coach wouldn't see him. He focussed his attention on a player, Kenji, and started walking towards him. BAM! A soccer ball on a line drive had hit him in the stomach. Massaging his stomach, Tatsu got up and found himself staring eye-to-eye with Coach.

"And where 'ave ya been," asked Coach with a distinct American accent. Coach was a tall man with long shaggy black hair and rumour says that he used to be the American National Youth Soccer Coach.

"To the library," replied Tatsu. He hoped that if he told the truth Coach would let him off easily. However, Coach wasn't completely satisfied.

"And wha' wereya doin' a' the smart-bookie place? You're a JOCK. Don't ya 'ave any common sense? Jocks don't go into libraries! Libraries are fo' genius' wid I.Q. of ova' 200 or wha'eva'!" Coach looked seriously disturbed.

"I saw a couple of cute hotties and decided to follow them! Into the Library.," tried Tatsu. As soon as he heard that, Coach's face turned into a smile. "AH! Chick stalking. Reminds me of the good ole days." All of a sudden Coach started to laugh. Tatsu didn't know what to do and started to laugh because it seemed like the safest thing to do. All of a sudden Coach stopped laughing and started screaming at Tatsu. "I don't give a care if ya' saw any hotties. Your on a prestigious team which ya' made a commitment too so for now on DON'T BE LATE. Also, STALKING is illegal. NEVER EVER DO THAT AGAIN! I OUGHT A bench you next game!" Coach stopped talking and looked around the field. Nobody was practising! Everybody was listening to Coach's rant.

"DON'T LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN," Coach screamed to Tatsu and then he walked away.

Kenji walked up to Tatsu just shook his head in disbelief. Tatsu smiled and throughout the entire practice he and Kenji made fun of Coach. When practice was over Tatsu left with Kenji and found the local Ramon Restaurant where they usually hung out.

Tatsu had no idea that he was being followed by a fat cat and a crow.


End file.
